It was announced today that the Montreal Canadiens traded goaltender Casey DeSmith to the Vancouver Canucks for forward Tanner Pearson and a 2025 third round pick.

The Canadiens were open about not having big intentions on keeping DeSmith, who they acquired in the summer as the third team in the Erik Karlsson to Pittsburgh trade.

Pearson played for the Penguins very briefly during the 2018-19 season. He didn’t start the year in Pittsburgh, and he didn’t end the year in Pittsburgh either.

Pens GM Jm Rutherford was looking to shake things up after a subpar start to the season, and made the knee jerk reaction of trading away Carl Hagelin to the Los Angeles Kings in November of that season in exchange for Pearson.

In 44 games as a Penguin, Pearson put up 9 goals and 5 assists. At the 2019 trade deadline, he was traded to the Vancouver Canucks in a swap for defenseman Erik Gudbranson.

Pearson has dealt with several injury hurdles while in Vancouver, including a botched handling of his hand injury that left teammates frustrated. When healthy, he can be a productive player, one that can guide a Canadiens lineup that is full of youth and talent.

Casey DeSmith, meanwhile, has spent much more time with the Penguins. The backup (and at times starter) in tandem with Tristan Jarry over the last few seasons, DeSmith had the worst year of his career in Pittsburgh last season.

He posted just a .905 save percentage and a 3.17 goals against average, struggling to stabilize the net behind an injured and underperforming Jarry. With the signing of goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, the writing was on the wall that DeSmith’s time as a Penguin was up.

He was shipped up to Montreal as part of the Karlsson deal, but the Canadiens were open about moving him from the moment he got there. Montreal has a tandem they like heading into 2023-24, and didn’t see it making any sense to have DeSmith play with their AHL team in Laval.

Much like with Jeff Petry (albeit for different reasons), the Canadiens were open for business, but waited to make a deal that made sense for the team.

Now, Vancouver has a more solidified goaltending position, with DeSmith likely to be the man backing up Thatcher Demko.

Previously, both Spencer Martin and Arturs Silovs were set to battle for the role behind Demko. Now, that may be moot.

(Feaured photo by Jeanine Leech/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)